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Label-free, non-invasive, rapid absorbance spectral imaging A(x,y,?) microscopy of single live cells at 1.2 ?m × 1.2 ?m resolution with an NA = 0.85 objective was developed and applied to unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. By introducing the fiber assembly to rearrange a two-dimensional image to the one-dimensional array to fit the slit of an imaging spectrograph equipped with a CCD detector, scan-free acquisition of three-dimensional information of A(x,y,?) was realized. The space-resolved absorbance spectra of the eyespot, an orange organelle about 1 ?m, were extracted from the green-color background in a chlorophyll-rich single live cell absorbance image. Characteristic absorbance change in the cell suspension after hydrogen photoproduction in C. reinhardtii was investigated to find a single 715-nm absorption peak was locally distributed within single cells. The formula to calculate the absorbance of cell suspensions from that of single cells was presented to obtain a quantitative, parameter-free agreement with the experiment. It is quantitatively shown that the average number of chlorophylls per cell is significantly underestimated when it is evaluated from the absorbance of the cell suspensions due to the package effect.

Proteases break peptide bonds. In the lab, it is often necessary to measure and/or compare the activity of proteases. Sigma's non-specific protease activity assay may be used as a standardized procedure to determine the activity of proteases, which is what we do during our quality control procedures. In this assay, casein acts as a substrate. When the protease we are testing digests casein, the amino acid tyrosine is liberated along with other amino acids and peptide fragments. Folin and Ciocalteus Phenol, or Folin's reagent primarily reacts with free tyrosine to produce a blue colored chromophore, which is quantifiable and measured as an absorbance value on the spectrophotometer. The more tyrosine that is released from casein, the more the chromophores are generated and the stronger the activity of the protease. Absorbance values generated by the activity of the protease are compared to a standard curve, which is generated by reacting known quantities of tyrosine with the F-C reagent to correlate changes in absorbance with the amount of tyrosine in micromoles. From the standard curve the activity of protease samples can be determined in terms of Units, which is the amount in micromoles of tyrosine equivalents released from casein per minute.
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This protocol describes a self-assembly technique to create macroscopic monolayer films composed of ligand-coated nanoparticles1,2. The simple, robust and scalable technique efficiently functionalizes metallic nanoparticles with thiol-ligands in a miscible water/organic solvent mixture allowing for rapid grafting of thiol groups onto the gold nanoparticle surface. The hydrophobic ligands on the nanoparticles then quickly phase separate the nanoparticles from the aqueous based suspension and confine them to the air-fluid interface. This drives the ligand-capped nanoparticles to form monolayer domains at the air-fluid interface. The use of water-miscible organic solvents is important as it enables the transport of the nanoparticles from the interface onto template-free substrates. The flow is mediated by a surface tension gradient3,4 and creates macroscopic, high-density, monolayer nanoparticle-ligand films. This self-assembly technique may be generalized to include the use of particles of different compositions, size, and shape and may lead to an efficient assembly method to produce low-cost, macroscopic, high-density, monolayer nanoparticle films for wide-spread applications.

Algae are considered excellent candidates for renewable fuel sources due to their natural lipid storage capabilities. Robust monitoring of algal fermentation processes and screening for new oil-rich strains requires a fast and reliable protocol for determination of intracellular lipid content. Current practices rely largely on gravimetric methods to determine oil content, techniques developed decades ago that are time consuming and require large sample volumes. In this paper, Nile Red, a fluorescent dye that has been used to identify the presence of lipid bodies in numerous types of organisms, is incorporated into a simple, fast, and reliable protocol for measuring the neutral lipid content of Auxenochlorella protothecoides, a green alga. The method uses ethanol, a relatively mild solvent, to permeabilize the cell membrane before staining and a 96 well micro-plate to increase sample capacity during fluorescence intensity measurements. It has been designed with the specific application of monitoring bioprocess performance. Previously dried samples or live samples from a growing culture can be used in the assay.

Imaging of biological samples using fluorescence microscopy has advanced substantially with new technologies to overcome the resolution barrier of the diffraction of light allowing super-resolution of live samples. There are currently three main types of super-resolution techniques – stimulated emission depletion (STED), single-molecule localization microscopy (including techniques such as PALM, STORM, and GDSIM), and structured illumination microscopy (SIM). While STED and single-molecule localization techniques show the largest increases in resolution, they have been slower to offer increased speeds of image acquisition. Three-dimensional SIM (3D-SIM) is a wide-field fluorescence microscopy technique that offers a number of advantages over both single-molecule localization and STED. Resolution is improved, with typical lateral and axial resolutions of 110 and 280 nm, respectively and depth of sampling of up to 30 µm from the coverslip, allowing for imaging of whole cells. Recent advancements (fast 3D-SIM) in the technology increasing the capture rate of raw images allows for fast capture of biological processes occurring in seconds, while significantly reducing photo-toxicity and photobleaching. Here we describe the use of one such method to image bacterial cells harboring the fluorescently-labelled cytokinetic FtsZ protein to show how cells are analyzed and the type of unique information that this technique can provide.

Monitoring the dynamics of protonation and protein backbone conformation changes during the function of a protein is an essential step towards understanding its mechanism. Protonation and conformational changes affect the vibration pattern of amino acid side chains and of the peptide bond, respectively, both of which can be probed by infrared (IR) difference spectroscopy. For proteins whose function can be repetitively and reproducibly triggered by light, it is possible to obtain infrared difference spectra with (sub)microsecond resolution over a broad spectral range using the step-scan Fourier transform infrared technique. With ~102-103 repetitions of the photoreaction, the minimum number to complete a scan at reasonable spectral resolution and bandwidth, the noise level in the absorption difference spectra can be as low as ~10-4, sufficient to follow the kinetics of protonation changes from a single amino acid. Lower noise levels can be accomplished by more data averaging and/or mathematical processing. The amount of protein required for optimal results is between 5-100 µg, depending on the sampling technique used. Regarding additional requirements, the protein needs to be first concentrated in a low ionic strength buffer and then dried to form a film. The protein film is hydrated prior to the experiment, either with little droplets of water or under controlled atmospheric humidity. The attained hydration level (g of water / g of protein) is gauged from an IR absorption spectrum. To showcase the technique, we studied the photocycle of the light-driven proton-pump bacteriorhodopsin in its native purple membrane environment, and of the light-gated ion channel channelrhodopsin-2 solubilized in detergent.

Institutions: Heart Research Center Goettingen, University Medical Center Goettingen, German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) partner site Goettingen, University of Maryland School of Medicine.

In cardiac myocytes a complex network of membrane tubules - the transverse-axial tubule system (TATS) - controls deep intracellular signaling functions. While the outer surface membrane and associated TATS membrane components appear to be continuous, there are substantial differences in lipid and protein content. In ventricular myocytes (VMs), certain TATS components are highly abundant contributing to rectilinear tubule networks and regular branching 3D architectures. It is thought that peripheral TATS components propagate action potentials from the cell surface to thousands of remote intracellular sarcoendoplasmic reticulum (SER) membrane contact domains, thereby activating intracellular Ca2+ release units (CRUs). In contrast to VMs, the organization and functional role of TATS membranes in atrial myocytes (AMs) is significantly different and much less understood. Taken together, quantitative structural characterization of TATS membrane networks in healthy and diseased myocytes is an essential prerequisite towards better understanding of functional plasticity and pathophysiological reorganization. Here, we present a strategic combination of protocols for direct quantitative analysis of TATS membrane networks in living VMs and AMs. For this, we accompany primary cell isolations of mouse VMs and/or AMs with critical quality control steps and direct membrane staining protocols for fluorescence imaging of TATS membranes. Using an optimized workflow for confocal or superresolution TATS image processing, binarized and skeletonized data are generated for quantitative analysis of the TATS network and its components. Unlike previously published indirect regional aggregate image analysis strategies, our protocols enable direct characterization of specific components and derive complex physiological properties of TATS membrane networks in living myocytes with high throughput and open access software tools. In summary, the combined protocol strategy can be readily applied for quantitative TATS network studies during physiological myocyte adaptation or disease changes, comparison of different cardiac or skeletal muscle cell types, phenotyping of transgenic models, and pharmacological or therapeutic interventions.

In Vitro Reconstitution of Light-harvesting Complexes of Plants and Green Algae

Authors: Alberto Natali, Laura M. Roy, Roberta Croce.

Institutions: VU University Amsterdam.

In plants and green algae, light is captured by the light-harvesting complexes (LHCs), a family of integral membrane proteins that coordinate chlorophylls and carotenoids. In vivo, these proteins are folded with pigments to form complexes which are inserted in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast. The high similarity in the chemical and physical properties of the members of the family, together with the fact that they can easily lose pigments during isolation, makes their purification in a native state challenging. An alternative approach to obtain homogeneous preparations of LHCs was developed by Plumley and Schmidt in 19871, who showed that it was possible to reconstitute these complexes in vitro starting from purified pigments and unfolded apoproteins, resulting in complexes with properties very similar to that of native complexes. This opened the way to the use of bacterial expressed recombinant proteins for in vitro reconstitution. The reconstitution method is powerful for various reasons: (1) pure preparations of individual complexes can be obtained, (2) pigment composition can be controlled to assess their contribution to structure and function, (3) recombinant proteins can be mutated to study the functional role of the individual residues (e.g., pigment binding sites) or protein domain (e.g., protein-protein interaction, folding). This method has been optimized in several laboratories and applied to most of the light-harvesting complexes. The protocol described here details the method of reconstituting light-harvesting complexes in vitro currently used in our laboratory,and examples describing applications of the method are provided.

It has become increasingly evident that the spatial distribution and the motion of membrane components like lipids and proteins are key factors in the regulation of many cellular functions. However, due to the fast dynamics and the tiny structures involved, a very high spatio-temporal resolution is required to catch the real behavior of molecules. Here we present the experimental protocol for studying the dynamics of fluorescently-labeled plasma-membrane proteins and lipids in live cells with high spatiotemporal resolution. Notably, this approach doesn’t need to track each molecule, but it calculates population behavior using all molecules in a given region of the membrane. The starting point is a fast imaging of a given region on the membrane. Afterwards, a complete spatio-temporal autocorrelation function is calculated correlating acquired images at increasing time delays, for example each 2, 3, n repetitions. It is possible to demonstrate that the width of the peak of the spatial autocorrelation function increases at increasing time delay as a function of particle movement due to diffusion. Therefore, fitting of the series of autocorrelation functions enables to extract the actual protein mean square displacement from imaging (iMSD), here presented in the form of apparent diffusivity vs average displacement. This yields a quantitative view of the average dynamics of single molecules with nanometer accuracy. By using a GFP-tagged variant of the Transferrin Receptor (TfR) and an ATTO488 labeled 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (PPE) it is possible to observe the spatiotemporal regulation of protein and lipid diffusion on µm-sized membrane regions in the micro-to-milli-second time range.

Institutions: University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Magnetic and plasmonic properties combined in a single nanoparticle provide a synergy that is advantageous in a number of biomedical applications including contrast enhancement in novel magnetomotive imaging modalities, simultaneous capture and detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and multimodal molecular imaging combined with photothermal therapy of cancer cells. These applications have stimulated significant interest in development of protocols for synthesis of magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles with optical absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) region and a strong magnetic moment. Here, we present a novel protocol for synthesis of such hybrid nanoparticles that is based on an oil-in-water microemulsion method. The unique feature of the protocol described herein is synthesis of magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles of various sizes from primary blocks which also have magneto-plasmonic characteristics. This approach yields nanoparticles with a high density of magnetic and plasmonic functionalities which are uniformly distributed throughout the nanoparticle volume. The hybrid nanoparticles can be easily functionalized by attaching antibodies through the Fc moiety leaving the Fab portion that is responsible for antigen binding available for targeting.

Institutions: University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago.

High-definition Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic imaging is an emerging approach to obtain detailed images that have associated biochemical information. FT-IR imaging of tissue is based on the principle that different regions of the mid-infrared are absorbed by different chemical bonds (e.g., C=O, C-H, N-H) within cells or tissue that can then be related to the presence and composition of biomolecules (e.g., lipids, DNA, glycogen, protein, collagen). In an FT-IR image, every pixel within the image comprises an entire Infrared (IR) spectrum that can give information on the biochemical status of the cells that can then be exploited for cell-type or disease-type classification. In this paper, we show: how to obtain IR images from human tissues using an FT-IR system, how to modify existing instrumentation to allow for high-definition imaging capabilities, and how to visualize FT-IR images. We then present some applications of FT-IR for pathology using the liver and kidney as examples. FT-IR imaging holds exciting applications in providing a novel route to obtain biochemical information from cells and tissue in an entirely label-free non-perturbing route towards giving new insight into biomolecular changes as part of disease processes. Additionally, this biochemical information can potentially allow for objective and automated analysis of certain aspects of disease diagnosis.

Conventional methods for experimental manipulation of microalgae have employed large volumes of culture (20 ml to 5 L), so that the culture can be subsampled throughout the experiment1–7. Subsampling of large volumes can be problematic for several reasons: 1) it causes variation in the total volume and the surface area:volume ratio of the culture during the experiment; 2) pseudo-replication (i.e., replicate samples from the same treatment flask8) is often employed rather than true replicates (i.e., sampling from replicate treatments); 3) the duration of the experiment is limited by the total volume; and 4) axenic cultures or the usual bacterial microbiota are difficult to maintain during long-term experiments as contamination commonly occurs during subsampling.
The use of microtiter plates enables 1 ml culture volumes to be used for each replicate, with up to 48 separate treatments within a 12.65 x 8.5 x 2.2 cm plate, thereby decreasing the experimental volume and allowing for extensive replication without subsampling any treatment. Additionally, this technique can be modified to fit a variety of experimental formats including: bacterial-algal co-cultures, algal physiology tests, and toxin screening9–11. Individual wells with an alga, bacterium and/or co-cultures can be sampled for numerous laboratory procedures including, but not limited to: WATER-Pulse-Amplitude-Modulated (WATER-PAM) fluorometry, microscopy, bacterial colony forming unit (cfu) counts and flow cytometry. The combination of the microtiter plate format and WATER-PAM fluorometry allows for multiple rapid measurements of photochemical yield and other photochemical parameters with low variability between samples, high reproducibility and avoids the many pitfalls of subsampling a carboy or conical flask over the course of an experiment.

In this work, we present time-resolved measurements of atomic and diatomic spectra following laser-induced optical breakdown. A typical LIBS arrangement is used. Here we operate a Nd:YAG laser at a frequency of 10 Hz at the fundamental wavelength of 1,064 nm. The 14 nsec pulses with anenergy of 190 mJ/pulse are focused to a 50 µm spot size to generate a plasma from optical breakdown or laser ablation in air. The microplasma is imaged onto the entrance slit of a 0.6 m spectrometer, and spectra are recorded using an 1,800 grooves/mm grating an intensified linear diode array and optical multichannel analyzer (OMA) or an ICCD. Of interest are Stark-broadened atomic lines of the hydrogen Balmer series to infer electron density. We also elaborate on temperature measurements from diatomic emission spectra of aluminum monoxide (AlO), carbon (C2), cyanogen (CN), and titanium monoxide (TiO).
The experimental procedures include wavelength and sensitivity calibrations. Analysis of the recorded molecular spectra is accomplished by the fitting of data with tabulated line strengths. Furthermore, Monte-Carlo type simulations are performed to estimate the error margins. Time-resolved measurements are essential for the transient plasma commonly encountered in LIBS.

Institutions: University of Münster, Carnegie Institution for Science.

The introduced protocol provides a tool for the analysis of multiprotein complexes in the thylakoid membrane, by revealing insights into complex composition under different conditions. In this protocol the approach is demonstrated by comparing the composition of the protein complex responsible for cyclic electron flow (CEF) in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, isolated from genetically different strains. The procedure comprises the isolation of thylakoid membranes, followed by their separation into multiprotein complexes by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, SDS-PAGE, immunodetection and comparative, quantitative mass spectrometry (MS) based on differential metabolic labeling (14N/15N) of the analyzed strains. Detergent solubilized thylakoid membranes are loaded on sucrose density gradients at equal chlorophyll concentration. After ultracentrifugation, the gradients are separated into fractions, which are analyzed by mass-spectrometry based on equal volume. This approach allows the investigation of the composition within the gradient fractions and moreover to analyze the migration behavior of different proteins, especially focusing on ANR1, CAS, and PGRL1. Furthermore, this method is demonstrated by confirming the results with immunoblotting and additionally by supporting the findings from previous studies (the identification and PSI-dependent migration of proteins that were previously described to be part of the CEF-supercomplex such as PGRL1, FNR, and cyt f). Notably, this approach is applicable to address a broad range of questions for which this protocol can be adopted and e.g. used for comparative analyses of multiprotein complex composition isolated from distinct environmental conditions.

Determination of microgram quantities of protein in the Bradford Coomassie brilliant blue assay is accomplished by measurement of absorbance at 590 nm. This most common assay enables rapid and simple protein quantification in cell lysates, cellular fractions, or recombinant protein samples, for the purpose of normalization of biochemical measurements. However, an intrinsic nonlinearity compromises the sensitivity and accuracy of this method. It is shown that under standard assay conditions, the ratio of the absorbance measurements at 590 nm and 450 nm is strictly linear with protein concentration. This simple procedure increases the accuracy and improves the sensitivity of the assay about 10-fold, permitting quantification down to 50 ng of bovine serum albumin. Furthermore, the interference commonly introduced by detergents that are used to create the cell lysates is greatly reduced by the new protocol. A linear equation developed on the basis of mass action and Beer's law perfectly fits the experimental data.

Photoconversion of Purified Fluorescent Proteins and Dual-probe Optical Highlighting in Live Cells

Authors: Gert-Jan Kremers, David Piston.

Institutions: Vanderbilt University.

Photoconvertible fluorescent proteins (pc-FPs) are a class of fluorescent proteins with "optical highlighter" capability, meaning that the color of fluorescence can be changed by exposure to light of a specific wavelength. Optical highlighting allows noninvasive marking of a subpopulation of fluorescent molecules, and is therefore ideal for tracking single cells or organelles.
Critical parameters for efficient photoconversion are the intensity and the exposure time of the photoconversion light. If the intensity is too low, photoconversion will be slow or not occur at all. On the other hand, too much intensity or too long exposure can photobleach the protein and thereby reduce the efficiency of photoconversion.
This protocol describes a general approach how to set up a confocal laser scanning microscope for pc-FP photoconversion applications. First, we describe a procedure for preparing purified protein droplet samples. This sample format is very convenient for studying the photophysical behavior of fluorescent proteins under the microscope. Second, we will use the protein droplet sample to show how to configure the microscope for photoconversion. And finally, we will show how to perform optical highlighting in live cells, including dual-probe optical highlighting with mOrange2 and Dronpa.

Institutions: University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Meeting growing energy demands safely and efficiently is a pressing global challenge. Therefore, research into biofuels production that seeks to find cost-effective and sustainable solutions has become a topical and critical task. Lignocellulosic biomass is poised to become the primary source of biomass for the conversion to liquid biofuels1-6. However, the recalcitrance of these plant cell wall materials to cost-effective and efficient degradation presents a major impediment for their use in the production of biofuels and chemicals4. In particular, lignin, a complex and irregular poly-phenylpropanoid heteropolymer, becomes problematic to the postharvest deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass. For example in biomass conversion for biofuels, it inhibits saccharification in processes aimed at producing simple sugars for fermentation7. The effective use of plant biomass for industrial purposes is in fact largely dependent on the extent to which the plant cell wall is lignified. The removal of lignin is a costly and limiting factor8 and lignin has therefore become a key plant breeding and genetic engineering target in order to improve cell wall conversion.
Analytical tools that permit the accurate rapid characterization of lignification of plant cell walls become increasingly important for evaluating a large number of breeding populations. Extractive procedures for the isolation of native components such as lignin are inevitably destructive, bringing about significant chemical and structural modifications9-11. Analytical chemical in situ methods are thus invaluable tools for the compositional and structural characterization of lignocellulosic materials. Raman microscopy is a technique that relies on inelastic or Raman scattering of monochromatic light, like that from a laser, where the shift in energy of the laser photons is related to molecular vibrations and presents an intrinsic label-free molecular "fingerprint" of the sample. Raman microscopy can afford non-destructive and comparatively inexpensive measurements with minimal sample preparation, giving insights into chemical composition and molecular structure in a close to native state. Chemical imaging by confocal Raman microscopy has been previously used for the visualization of the spatial distribution of cellulose and lignin in wood cell walls12-14. Based on these earlier results, we have recently adopted this method to compare lignification in wild type and lignin-deficient transgenic Populus trichocarpa (black cottonwood) stem wood15. Analyzing the lignin Raman bands16,17 in the spectral region between 1,600 and 1,700 cm-1, lignin signal intensity and localization were mapped in situ. Our approach visualized differences in lignin content, localization, and chemical composition. Most recently, we demonstrated Raman imaging of cell wall polymers in Arabidopsis thaliana with lateral resolution that is sub-μm18. Here, this method is presented affording visualization of lignin in plant cell walls and comparison of lignification in different tissues, samples or species without staining or labeling of the tissues.

Dynamic changes in intracellular calcium concentration in response to various stimuli regulates many cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis1. During apoptosis, calcium accumulation in mitochondria promotes the release of pro-apoptotic factors from the mitochondria into the cytosol2. It is therefore of interest to directly measure mitochondrial calcium in living cells in situ during apoptosis. High-resolution fluorescent imaging of cells loaded with dual-excitation ratiometric and non-ratiometric synthetic calcium indicator dyes has been proven to be a reliable and versatile tool to study various aspects of intracellular calcium signaling. Measuring cytosolic calcium fluxes using these techniques is relatively straightforward. However, measuring intramitochondrial calcium levels in intact cells using synthetic calcium indicators such as rhod-2 and rhod-FF is more challenging. Synthetic indicators targeted to mitochondria have blunted responses to repetitive increases in mitochondrial calcium, and disrupt mitochondrial morphology3. Additionally, synthetic indicators tend to leak out of mitochondria over several hours which makes them unsuitable for long-term experiments. Thus, genetically encoded calcium indicators based upon green fluorescent protein (GFP)4 or aequorin5 targeted to mitochondria have greatly facilitated measurement of mitochondrial calcium dynamics. Here, we describe a simple method for real-time measurement of mitochondrial calcium fluxes in response to different stimuli. The method is based on fluorescence microscopy of 'ratiometric-pericam' which is selectively targeted to mitochondria. Ratiometric pericam is a calcium indicator based on a fusion of circularly permuted yellow fluorescent protein and calmodulin4. Binding of calcium to ratiometric pericam causes a shift of its excitation peak from 415 nm to 494 nm, while the emission spectrum, which peaks around 515 nm, remains unchanged. Ratiometric pericam binds a single calcium ion with a dissociation constant in vitro of ~1.7 μM4. These properties of ratiometric pericam allow the quantification of rapid and long-term changes in mitochondrial calcium concentration. Furthermore, we describe adaptation of this methodology to a standard wide-field calcium imaging microscope with commonly available filter sets. Using two distinct agonists, the purinergic agonist ATP and apoptosis-inducing drug staurosporine, we demonstrate that this method is appropriate for monitoring changes in mitochondrial calcium concentration with a temporal resolution of seconds to hours. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that ratiometric pericam is also useful for measuring mitochondrial fission/fragmentation during apoptosis. Thus, ratiometric pericam is particularly well suited for continuous long-term measurement of mitochondrial calcium dynamics during apoptosis.

Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles , University of California, Los Angeles , University of California, Los Angeles .

Tomographic imaging has been a widely used tool in medicine as it can provide three-dimensional (3D) structural information regarding objects of different size scales. In micrometer and millimeter scales, optical microscopy modalities find increasing use owing to the non-ionizing nature of visible light, and the availability of a rich set of illumination sources (such as lasers and light-emitting-diodes) and detection elements (such as large format CCD and CMOS detector-arrays). Among the recently developed optical tomographic microscopy modalities, one can include optical coherence tomography, optical diffraction tomography, optical projection tomography and light-sheet microscopy. 1-6 These platforms provide sectional imaging of cells, microorganisms and model animals such as C. elegans, zebrafish and mouse embryos.
Existing 3D optical imagers generally have relatively bulky and complex architectures, limiting the availability of these equipments to advanced laboratories, and impeding their integration with lab-on-a-chip platforms and microfluidic chips. To provide an alternative tomographic microscope, we recently developed lensfree optical tomography (LOT) as a high-throughput, compact and cost-effective optical tomography modality. 7 LOT discards the use of lenses and bulky optical components, and instead relies on multi-angle illumination and digital computation to achieve depth-resolved imaging of micro-objects over a large imaging volume. LOT can image biological specimen at a spatial resolution of <1 μm x <1 μm x <3 μm in the x, y and z dimensions, respectively, over a large imaging volume of 15-100 mm3, and can be particularly useful for lab-on-a-chip platforms.

Institutions: University of Wuerzburg, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich.

Visualization of calcium dynamics is important to understand the role of calcium in cell physiology. To examine calcium dynamics, synthetic fluorescent Ca2+ indictors have become popular. Here we demonstrate TED (= targeted-esterase induced dye loading), a method to improve the release of Ca2+ indicator dyes in the ER lumen of different cell types. To date, TED was used in cell lines, glial cells, and neurons in vitro. TED bases on efficient, recombinant targeting of a high carboxylesterase activity to the ER lumen using vector-constructs that express Carboxylesterases (CES). The latest TED vectors contain a core element of CES2 fused to a red fluorescent protein, thus enabling simultaneous two-color imaging. The dynamics of free calcium in the ER are imaged in one color, while the corresponding ER structure appears in red. At the beginning of the procedure, cells are transduced with a lentivirus. Subsequently, the infected cells are seeded on coverslips to finally enable live cell imaging. Then, living cells are incubated with the acetoxymethyl ester (AM-ester) form of low-affinity Ca2+ indicators, for instance Fluo5N-AM, Mag-Fluo4-AM, or Mag-Fura2-AM. The esterase activity in the ER cleaves off hydrophobic side chains from the AM form of the Ca2+ indicator and a hydrophilic fluorescent dye/Ca2+ complex is formed and trapped in the ER lumen. After dye loading, the cells are analyzed at an inverted confocal laser scanning microscope. Cells are continuously perfused with Ringer-like solutions and the ER calcium dynamics are directly visualized by time-lapse imaging. Calcium release from the ER is identified by a decrease in fluorescence intensity in regions of interest, whereas the refilling of the ER calcium store produces an increase in fluorescence intensity. Finally, the change in fluorescent intensity over time is determined by calculation of ΔF/F0.

Core histone octamers that are repetitively spaced along a DNA molecule are called nucleosomal arrays. Nucleosomal arrays are obtained in one of two ways: purification from in vivo sources, or reconstitution in vitro from recombinant core histones and tandemly repeated nucleosome positioning DNA. The latter method has the benefit of allowing for the assembly of a more compositionally uniform and precisely positioned nucleosomal array. Sedimentation velocity experiments in the analytical ultracentrifuge yield information about the size and shape of macromolecules by analyzing the rate at which they migrate through solution under centrifugal force. This technique, along with atomic force microscopy, can be used for quality control, ensuring that the majority of DNA templates are saturated with nucleosomes after reconstitution. Here we describe the protocols necessary to reconstitute milligram quantities of length and compositionally defined nucleosomal arrays suitable for biochemical and biophysical studies of chromatin structure and function.

Carbon-based nanomaterials, like carbon nanotubes (CNTs), belong to this type of nanoparticles which are very difficult to discriminate from carbon-rich cell structures and de facto there is still no quantitative method to assess their distribution at cell and tissue levels. What we propose here is an innovative method allowing the detection and quantification of CNTs in cells using a multispectral imaging flow cytometer (ImageStream, Amnis). This newly developed device integrates both a high-throughput of cells and high resolution imaging, providing thus images for each cell directly in flow and therefore statistically relevant image analysis. Each cell image is acquired on bright-field (BF), dark-field (DF), and fluorescent channels, giving access respectively to the level and the distribution of light absorption, light scattered and fluorescence for each cell. The analysis consists then in a pixel-by-pixel comparison of each image, of the 7,000-10,000 cells acquired for each condition of the experiment. Localization and quantification of CNTs is made possible thanks to some particular intrinsic properties of CNTs: strong light absorbance and scattering; indeed CNTs appear as strongly absorbed dark spots on BF and bright spots on DF with a precise colocalization.
This methodology could have a considerable impact on studies about interactions between nanomaterials and cells given that this protocol is applicable for a large range of nanomaterials, insofar as they are capable of absorbing (and/or scattering) strongly enough the light.

Mast cells play important roles in allergic disease and immune defense against parasites. Once activated (e.g. by an allergen), they degranulate, a process that results in the exocytosis of allergic mediators. Modulation of mast cell degranulation by drugs and toxicants may have positive or adverse effects on human health. Mast cell function has been dissected in detail with the use of rat basophilic leukemia mast cells (RBL-2H3), a widely accepted model of human mucosal mast cells3-5. Mast cell granule component and the allergic mediator β-hexosaminidase, which is released linearly in tandem with histamine from mast cells6, can easily and reliably be measured through reaction with a fluorogenic substrate, yielding measurable fluorescence intensity in a microplate assay that is amenable to high-throughput studies1. Originally published by Naal et al.1, we have adapted this degranulation assay for the screening of drugs and toxicants and demonstrate its use here.
Triclosan is a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent that is present in many consumer products and has been found to be a therapeutic aid in human allergic skin disease7-11, although the mechanism for this effect is unknown. Here we demonstrate an assay for the effect of triclosan on mast cell degranulation. We recently showed that triclosan strongly affects mast cell function2. In an effort to avoid use of an organic solvent, triclosan is dissolved directly into aqueous buffer with heat and stirring, and resultant concentration is confirmed using UV-Vis spectrophotometry (using ε280 = 4,200 L/M/cm)12. This protocol has the potential to be used with a variety of chemicals to determine their effects on mast cell degranulation, and more broadly, their allergic potential.

Localization-based super resolution microscopy can be applied to obtain a spatial map (image) of the distribution of individual fluorescently labeled single molecules within a sample with a spatial resolution of tens of nanometers. Using either photoactivatable (PAFP) or photoswitchable (PSFP) fluorescent proteins fused to proteins of interest, or organic dyes conjugated to antibodies or other molecules of interest, fluorescence photoactivation localization microscopy (FPALM) can simultaneously image multiple species of molecules within single cells. By using the following approach, populations of large numbers (thousands to hundreds of thousands) of individual molecules are imaged in single cells and localized with a precision of ~10-30 nm. Data obtained can be applied to understanding the nanoscale spatial distributions of multiple protein types within a cell. One primary advantage of this technique is the dramatic increase in spatial resolution: while diffraction limits resolution to ~200-250 nm in conventional light microscopy, FPALM can image length scales more than an order of magnitude smaller. As many biological hypotheses concern the spatial relationships among different biomolecules, the improved resolution of FPALM can provide insight into questions of cellular organization which have previously been inaccessible to conventional fluorescence microscopy. In addition to detailing the methods for sample preparation and data acquisition, we here describe the optical setup for FPALM. One additional consideration for researchers wishing to do super-resolution microscopy is cost: in-house setups are significantly cheaper than most commercially available imaging machines. Limitations of this technique include the need for optimizing the labeling of molecules of interest within cell samples, and the need for post-processing software to visualize results. We here describe the use of PAFP and PSFP expression to image two protein species in fixed cells. Extension of the technique to living cells is also described.

Institutions: Children's National Medical Center, University of Maryland, George Washington University, George Washington University.

Multimodal, molecular imaging allows the visualization of biological processes at cellular, subcellular, and molecular-level resolutions using multiple, complementary imaging techniques. These imaging agents facilitate the real-time assessment of pathways and mechanisms in vivo, which enhance both diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy. This article presents the protocol for the synthesis of biofunctionalized Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) - a novel class of agents for use in multimodal, molecular imaging applications. The imaging modalities incorporated in the nanoparticles, fluorescence imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have complementary features. The PB NPs possess a core-shell design where gadolinium and manganese ions incorporated within the interstitial spaces of the PB lattice generate MRI contrast, both in T1 and T2-weighted sequences. The PB NPs are coated with fluorescent avidin using electrostatic self-assembly, which enables fluorescence imaging. The avidin-coated nanoparticles are modified with biotinylated ligands that confer molecular targeting capabilities to the nanoparticles. The stability and toxicity of the nanoparticles are measured, as well as their MRI relaxivities. The multimodal, molecular imaging capabilities of these biofunctionalized PB NPs are then demonstrated by using them for fluorescence imaging and molecular MRI in vitro.

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